Data Sharing

Guidance

Protecting Student Privacy While Using Online Educational Services: Model Terms of Service

The Privacy Technical Assistance Center, working with the Department of Education’s Family Policy Compliance office, has developed a checklist document that provides a framework for evaluating online educational tools' Terms of Service Agreements.  This document is intended to assist users in understanding how a given online service or app will collect, use and/or transmit user information so that they can then decide whether or not to sign up.

The document is divided into several sections:

Guidance

Guidance for Reasonable Methods and Written Agreements

This document provides guidance for schools, school districts, postsecondary institutions, and State educational authorities (such as State educational agencies) that may disclose personally identifiable information from education records. The document provides these entities with information about requirements and best practices for data disclosures under the studies exception and the audit or evaluation exception, as specified in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

written agreement agreements

Guidance

Responsibilities of Third-Party Service Providers under FERPA

This document was developed by PTAC to assist online educational services providers, vendors, and contractors in understanding the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Similar guidance, Protecting Student Privacy While Using Online Educational Services, is intended for school audiences; this guidance presents the same material, but in a format geared toward third-party service providers.

Guidance

Contractor Responsibilities Under FERPA: Tri-fold

This document is intended for state educational agencies (SEAs) and/or their contracted companies to use to inform the contractors’ staff about their responsibilities to protect students’ personally identifiable information acquired under FERPA’s audit or evaluation exception.

This version is a tri-fold brochure for Microsoft Word that leaves space to amend applicable state or local privacy laws. 

Guidance

Contractor Responsibilities Under FERPA: Single Page

This document is intended for state educational agencies (SEAs) and/or their contracted companies to use to inform the contractors’ staff about their responsibilities to protect students’ personally identifiable information acquired under FERPA’s audit or evaluation exception.

This version is a single-page .pdf intended for use as a standard FERPA-only acknowledgement.